EXPERIMENTS IN ORCHARD CULTURE. 201 



These figures seem to contradict, or at least to cast doubt upon 

 the statement frequently made by some of the best writers upon 

 fruit growing, viz. : " Apples grown in sod attain a higher color 

 and keep longer than those grown under clean culture." 



There is no uniformity in the results shown. For instance, of 

 the Tolmans the barrel from sod land gave 69.6 per cent of 

 sound fruit at the end of six months; while the corresponding 

 barrel from cultivated land gave 65.3 per cent — a difference of 

 only 20 apples in the barrel, and the actual number of worthless 

 fruits was nearly double from the sod grown tree. Where the 

 fruit was in the same barrel (numbers 2 and 4 of Tolman), the 

 difference was i .3 per cent in favor of the cultivated fruit. Of 

 the Baldwins, one barrel was decidedly better than all of the 

 others, and both barrels from sod land gave a higher percentage 

 than did those from cultivated land ; but the difference between 

 number 2 and numbers 3 and 4 was not greater than might be 

 expected from fruit grown under the same conditions. Indeed 

 not so great as the difference between numbers i and 2. 



The color of the fruit grown on sod was usually better than 

 that from the cultivated trees ; but the size of the other fruit was 

 greater. In order to be of permanent value these tests should 

 be made under the best conditions for a series of years, and with 

 a wide range of varieties. 



Cover Crops. 

 While no data are to be reported at this time, the importance 

 of a winter cover for orchard lands that are given clean culture 

 during the summer should not be overlooked. In brief, the 

 practice followed by the writer is to plow the orchard in May, 

 cultivate freely and frequently until about the first to the tenth 

 of August and at the last cultivation seed the ground with some 

 crop which shall make an effective cover through the winter and 

 during the period of freezing and thawing, the following spring. 



ADVANTAGES OE A COVER CROP. 



The advantages following the use of a cover crop may be 

 summarized as follows : 



(i) The cover crop utilizes soluble fertilizers which would 

 otherwise be wasted, and prevents washing of the land. 



(2) Adds humus to the soil. 



